In this episode, I sit down with Lindsey Valenzuela. Lindsey has been an athlete all her life and played collegiate volleyball at California Lutheran University. During that time, she began Olympic Weightlifting to train for volleyball and quickly fell in love with the barbell. After her collegiate career was over, she began competing in Olympic Weightlifting and then found CrossFit. She has since become a seasoned CrossFit Games athlete, competing in 4 CrossFit Games and finishing as high as 2nd place in 2013 and most recently finishing in 7th place in 2015. She also represented Team USA in the CrossFit Invitational in Berlin in 2013. Lindsey has coached at several affiliates in Southern California and in August of 2015 fulfilled her dream to open her own affiliate, Autumo CrossFit, with her business partner and former NFL player James Townsend. Shortly after, she discovered she was pregnant and made the announcement that she will be taking the 2016 season away from competition. I was excited to sit down with Lindsey to catch up on her crazy year of transition, how she is approaching her pregnancy, and her plans for the future.

In this episode, we discuss:

Her back injury and how she discovered she was pregnant

Stepping away from competition for her pregnancy

Her plans to return to competition

Her approach to training while pregnant and how it has evolved throughout the pregnancy

How she responds to negative comments or media about doing CrossFit while pregnant

Her approach to nutrition and sleep during pregnancy

The recent opening of her affiliate, Autumo CrossFit

Three things she does on a regular basis that have the biggest positive impact on her health

One thing she struggles to implement that could have a big impact on her health

Sign up for tips from me via Pure Pharma each Friday of the CrossFit Games Open here.

If you like this episode, please subscribe to Pursuing Health on iTunes and give it a rating! I’d love to hear all of your feedback in the comments below and on social media using the hashtag #JFHealth. I look forward to bringing you future episodes with inspiring individuals and ideas about health every other Tuesday. Don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter above so you never miss out on another episode.

If you or someone you know has an inspiring story about using lifestyle to overcome disease, please share by emailing info@juliefoucher.com. I will continue to feature stories like this in the future.

Disclaimer: This podcast is meant to share the experiences of various individuals. It does not provide medical advice, and it is not a substitute for advice from your physician or health care professional.